Friday, July 20, 2012

Laundry schedule.

I think a lot moms would agree that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I struggle to find the time and energy to do everything on my to-do list.

I read (somewhere that I can’t seem to recall) a list of tips for a well maintained house. One of those tips was to do a full load of laundry every day that way you don’t have to spend an entire day on the weekend tied to the washer and dryer.

This made sense to me. I don’t want to spend all day on Sunday doing laundry which is what usually ended up happening. So I started to think about how I could implement this in my house.

I really like schedules. They really suit my personality. I do my very best to keep Slade on a schedule (that was especially true when he was a baby). Schedules make it easy on everyone because everyone knows what to expect and what needs to be done.

So I decided to create a laundry schedule for my house. Because my husband‘s suits and the majority of my work clothes go to the dry cleaners, I am lucky enough that I don’t have the quantity of laundry that requires doing a load of laundry every day. Plus, one of the benefits of having a schedule is having days when I don’t do laundry.

On Sundays, I do all of Slade’s laundry which can usually be done in one load. I find it is really helpful to start the week with all of this laundry clean and put away. I prefer to do this laundry after his nap so that I can wash his favorite blanket and have it ready for bedtime. One thing that is essential for making this work is that he has enough clothes for an entire week so that I only need to do his laundry once a week. So I make sure that he has 8 pairs of pajamas (it’s always good to have a spare), 8 pairs of shorts, etc.

Also on Sundays, I alternate doing kitchen laundry and bath towels.

During the week, I wash all of the dark colored clothes on Tuesday, light colored clothes on Wednesday and reserve Thursday for any additional laundry that needs to be done, such as a load of red colored clothes or something needing to be washed on the gentle cycle. During the week, I tend to wash and dry at night but then fold and put away the laundry the next morning before Slade wakes up.

This means that I have Monday, Friday and Saturday as laundry free days! Woo hoo!

We’ve been operating with this current laundry schedule for about two months now and I have to say that it’s been a success.